Word: heron
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...MISTAKE to only rave about the lyrics and ignore the music. Scott-Heron and Jackson are jazz musicians who complement the atmosphere of the lyrics with the rhythms and acoustics of their songs. In "Three Miles Down," a song to politicians about coal-mining, the music has three distinct beats, each one in a lower key than the one played before. "Angel Dust" includes mellow backup vocals, giving the song a light, hallucinatory effect. All of their productions attempt to incorporate the setting into music, a testimony to the genius of their creators. The result is not a sermon...
...Scott-Heron and Jackson work together but Scott-Heron has received most of the popular acclaim because the most notable tracks feature his music and lyrics. His music has prompted some to conclude that Scott-Heron is "a verbal John Coltrane," undoubtedly a more accurate description than the "Black Bob Dylan" label. The similarity to Coltrane is slightly evident in "A Prayer For Everybody," the album's most instrumental track. Yet Scott-Heron is a duplicate of no one you have heard before. A true artist can do more than sing the I-love-you-you-love-me routine...
...songs in Secrets have readily understandable subjects. "Angola, Louisiana" is a prison in St. Charles Parrish which confines Gary Tyler, a young teenager railroaded into a first-degree homicide conviction for a murder committed in self-defense. Scott-Heron is saying Tyler's case is not special, it's common. Some people wonder if Scott-Heron/Jackson go far enough and others wonder why they venture so far. Secrets is Scott-Heron/Jackson at their most subdued level. Bridges, the last album prior to Secrets, contains more music and less rhetoric. South Africa to South Carolina, released...
PROPHETS OF DOOM? Psychics? They are neither. Scott-Heron and Jackson are positive. To be negative would be to say nothing. In "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," they said, "NBC will not be able to predict the winner at 8:32 or report from 29 districts/There will be no highlights on the 11 o'clock news/The revolution will not be right back after a message about a white tornado, white lightning or white people." The lyrics both serve as a warning and a motivation to become involved. As for proof of any sixth sense, that doesn't exist either...
...Scott-Heron and Jackson have a reason for their music that should quiet all the suspicious speculation about their art. Scott-Heron summed it up in a verse from "Angola, Louisiana": "This song may not reach a whole lot of people persuaded by the truth/But take a look at what's goin' on 'cause it could happen to you." He is so right...